The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for adapting the seat row arrangement in passenger planes according to need.
In passenger planes, the seat rows are mounted fixedly on fastening rails, which run in the floor in the longitudinal direction of the plane. The plane operator selects a seat row arrangement which is most favorable for the desired intended purpose. Seat row arrangement is understood here as being the number of seat rows and their distances from one another, which may be different in different sections in the longitudinal direction of the plane. As a rule, at the front of the plane there is a Business Class section having larger seat row distances, followed by a generally larger section in Economy Class having smaller seat row distances. Occasionally, continuously uniform seat row distances are also used.
Up to now, the planes have been operated over the long term with a seat row arrangement prescribed once, and the seat row arrangement is changed only under exceptional circumstances if the plane is to be set up, for example, for a new intended purpose and a change in the number of seat rows in Business Class and in Economy Class is to be brought about. Up to now, such changes in the seat row arrangement have been brought about only under exceptional circumstances, since they require a high expenditure in terms of personnel and time because each seat row whose position is to be changed has to be mechanically released from its fastening on the fastening rails, manually displaced and re-fastened by the ground staff. At the same time, if the ratio of seat rows in Economy Class to seat rows in Business Class is changed, seat rows are generally brought into the plane or removed therefrom. It is clear that such conversions entail such high expenditure in terms of personnel and time that they are carried out only in exceptional circumstances.
On the other hand, in the case of the air traffic conditions nowadays when a passenger plane lands at an airport and, after the shortest possible standing time on the ground, sets off again on the return flight to the initial airport or to another airport, situations often arise in which the seat row arrangements with their rigid division into Business Class and Economy Class cannot be used in an economically favorable manner. For example, flights in the early morning or in the evening are often occupied by a high proportion of business travelers in Business Class, while flights on the same routes in the day are more heavily used by Economy Class passengers. In this case, if a relatively large section of seat rows is held ready for Business Class, under flight conditions with a high proportion of economy passengers, the conveying capacity of the plane is not optimally used; on the other hand, at the peak times of Business Class use sufficient seat rows are not available in Business Class.
Accordingly, a need has developed in the art to address one or more problems noted above in the air plane seating industry.